AP Photo/J. David Ake
When Angela Merkel and her CDU/CSU bloc won an overwhelming victory in Germany's September parliamentary elections, it marked a conservative shift in German politics. Germany's Social Democrats (SPD, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland) suddenly found themselves booted from the ruling coalition in favor of the pro-market, anti-immigration Free Democrats (FDP, Freie Demokratische Partei). Yesterday, Merkel continued the trend by delivering a fairly conservative address (at least by European standards) before a joint session of the US Congress, tackling tough topics such as climate change, Iran, and Afghanistan.
She encouraged Congress to make firm commitments to battling climate change at December's upcoming Copenhagen summit, insisting that there is "no time to lose." Merkel also commented that US support would encourage countries like China and India to take similar steps. Germany is presently the largest renewable energy economy in the world, with 15% of its electricity coming from renewable sources such as solar and wind power in 2008 (27% projected by 2020). In spite of bold rhetoric, the US has yet to make either a major legislative or diplomatic commitment to combating climate change. Merkel took a far more conservative stance on Iran and Afganistan, judging from BBC News, which reported that she called for a "zero-tolerance policy" on the Iranian nuclear program, citing the threat to Israel from "an Iranian president who denies the Holocaust [...] and denies Israel the right to exist." For obvious reasons, Holocaust denial is a considered a felony offense in Germany.
On Afghanistan, Merkel promised that Germany and the US would "travel [the] road together, every step of the way," but did not mention specifics.
While the US government has encouraged Germany to contribute additional Bundeswehr troops to the NATO force in Afghanistan, the issue remains controversial in Germany, where Merkel's government faces widespread opposition to its involvement in Afghanistan. German commitments in Afghanistan were a major issue in the September elections, to the point where Al-Qaeda released videotape threats of terror attacks if Germans re-elected the CSU/CDU parliamentary bloc.
Introducing Bundeskanzlerin Merkel before Congress, President Barack Obama called her an "extroardinary leader" and her country "an extraordinarily strong ally on a host of international issues."
Angela Merkel is only the second German Chancellor in history to speak before Congress, after Konrad Adenauer in 1957.
Comments
It's silly to be passing new laws on emissions when the biggest and richest company, ExxonMobil, has all their old plants and infrastructure grandfathered and exempt from the Clean Air Act. It's the old stuff that is still running and leaking that creates huge volumes of emissions. I live on a 38,000 acre South Texas Ranch with ExxonMobil. They have leased the place since the 1930's -- it's still huffing and puffing away on old grandfathered plants. They not only pollute, they are wasteful. All the new production of ExxonMobil's JV partners requires that the partners process all the gas at ExxonMobil's 1950's King Ranch Plant -- another huge polluter. ExxonMobil leased almost 2,000,000 contiguous acres between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley by the 1940's -- they still control the area and use old junk. Regardless of new rules, XOM will be exempt. I made a website www.RanchoLosMalulos.com - you can see what a Texas XOM op looks like.
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